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Tag: monumental sports and entertainment

  • Capital One Arena hosts highest-attended game in US women’s hockey history – WTOP News

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    D.C.’s Capital One Arena marked a milestone Sunday when it recorded the largest in-arena attendance for a professional women’s hockey match.

    D.C.’s Capital One Arena marked a milestone Sunday when it recorded the largest in-arena attendance for a professional U.S. women’s hockey match.

    The record-setting crowd of 17,228 attendees came as the arena hosted the Professional Women’s Hockey League Takeover Tour game. The anticipated game saw the New York Sirens defeat the Montreal Victoire 2-1.

    Game attendance surpassed the previous record of 16,014 fans set during a PWHL game between the Seattle Torrent and Minnesota Frost at Seattle’s Climate Pledge Arena on Nov. 28, 2025, according to a release issued by Monumental Sports and Entertainment.

    The game was broadcast locally on Monumental Sports Network and marked the first PWHL match-up played in the District.

    This achievement also comes after the Washington Mystics hosted the Indiana Fever at Capital One in September 2024 for a game that drew a record 20,711 fans. The event itself set the Women’s National Basketball Association single-game attendance mark for a regular season game.

    “We’re incredibly proud to see Capital One Arena serve as the stage for another historic moment with today’s record-setting PWHL game,” said Ted Leonsis, founder, chairman, managing partner, and CEO of MSE.

    “Whether it’s on the ice or the court, these record-setting crowds are the result of deliberate investment, long-term partnership and a belief that women’s sports deserve to be celebrated at the highest level.”

    As part of the weekend’s events, the Capitals hosted a series of events at MedStar Capitals Iceplex and hosted girls’ youth hockey clinics led by ALL CAPS ALL HER instructors and ambassadors with appearances by PWHL players.

    The Montreal Victoire and New York Sirens earlier held open practices for the public with autograph sessions and other fan experiences.

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    © 2026 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.

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    Zsana Hoskins

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  • Youngkin ‘boggled’ Caps, Wizards deal ‘from the beginning,’ Va. Sen. Lucas says – WTOP News

    Youngkin ‘boggled’ Caps, Wizards deal ‘from the beginning,’ Va. Sen. Lucas says – WTOP News

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    Now that the push to move the Capitals and the Wizards to Virginia’s Alexandria area has been nixed state Sen. L. Louise Lucas is putting the blame squarely on Gov. Youngkin’s shoulders.

    Now that the push to move the Washington Capitals and Wizards teams to Virginia’s Alexandria area has been nixed — with owner Ted Leonsis calling himself political “collateral damage” in the deal — state Sen. L. Louise Lucas is putting the blame squarely on Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s shoulders.

    Lucas, a Virginia native who represents District 18, told WTOP that Youngkin “pretty much boggled this thing right from the very beginning.”

    “Because the governor knew that in order to get any kind of major project through the legislature, he had to deal with those of us who are coequals with him in this process. That’s number one. So it was up to the governor to get with those of us in the legislature, which he did not early on — he had announced that this was a done deal back in December,” she said.

    As the newly elected chair of state’s Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee, having just been elected in November, Lucas said Youngkin knew she’d be coming in but “there was no effort made from him to talk to us.”

    She said there was a virtual meeting with Youngkin’s Secretary of Finance Stephen Emery Cummings — but that was it.

    “Other than that, there was no conversation with us in December,” Lucas said. “Then, in January, when we get to the session. And all the conversation starts about it. … This has never been done in the history of the Commonwealth, to use our bond rating and to take the faith good and credit of the Commonwealth and put it behind the project.”

    “There was no way that this finance committee was going to do that on my watch,” she added.

    She raised concerns about other projects that could have been pushed through: “What would have happened if we have 15 or more other projects to come through like that, and wanting the same deal? What would happen if we had a 10 or 15 others to come behind them, even five, and they weren’t able to live up to their commitment to pay off this debt than the Commonwealth of Virginia?”

    “We’d be on the hook for it,” Lucas said.

    Monumental Sports CEO Ted Leonsis, who owns the Capitals and the Wizards, told WTOP the deal’s failure was a result of it slowly becoming more politically motivated.

    “I had always looked at Virginia as being a well-managed state, wanting to do business,” Leonsis said, adding that this experience changed his opinion. “It was like, ‘oh my gosh, this has nothing to do with business anymore; this has to do with politics.’ … Who would have thought that D.C. was easier to work with than Virginia?”

    He has since reached a deal with D.C. to keep both teams in the District until 2050 to the tune of $515 million.

    WTOP’s Sandra Jones contributed to this report.

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    © 2024 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.

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    Will Vitka

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  • Monumental CEO Ted Leonsis says he was political ‘collateral damage’ in failed Alexandria arena deal – WTOP News

    Monumental CEO Ted Leonsis says he was political ‘collateral damage’ in failed Alexandria arena deal – WTOP News

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    Capitals and Wizards owner Ted Leonsis said he had become political “collateral damage” as Virginia lawmakers considered his plan to move the teams out of D.C. and build a new arena for them in Alexandria.

    Ted Leonsis, owner of the Washington Wizards NBA basketball team and Washington Capitals NHL hockey team, speaks during a news conference at Capitol One Arena in Washington, Wednesday, March 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)(AP/Stephanie Scarbrough)

    Putting the blame on politics, Capitals and Wizards owner Ted Leonsis said he had become political “collateral damage” as Virginia lawmakers considered his plan to move the teams out of D.C. and build a new arena for them in Alexandria.

    “I’m glad I’m not a politician,” Leonsis said Friday in an interview with WTOP. “I think politics took over, which I felt very uncomfortable about.”

    Leonsis seemed confident in the arena plan late last year when he and Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin stood together and announced it.

    Looking back on that, would Leonsis do anything differently?

    “It’s not the way I operate, having regrets and things like that,” said Leonsis, who’s CEO of Monumental Sports & Entertainment, which owns the Washington Capitals and Washington Wizards. “I’m only looking forward.”

    When asked whether he thought the governor had underestimated how difficult it would be to get the deal done, Leonsis said “I don’t know, and I don’t want to speculate.”

    The plan called for the creation of a $2 billion development district in the Potomac Yard section of Alexandria.

    Virginia’s General Assembly was asked to set up an authority that would issue bonds to finance most of the project, backed partly by the city and state governments and repaid through a mix of projected tax revenues recaptured from the development.

    Youngkin and other supporters said the development would generate tens of thousands of jobs, along with new tax revenues beyond what would have been needed to cover the financing.

    Ultimately, however, there proved to be too much political opposition.

    “I had always looked at Virginia as being a well-managed state, wanting to do business,” Leonsis said, adding that this experience changed his opinion.

    “It was like, ‘oh my gosh, this has nothing to do with business anymore; this has to do with politics,’” Leonsis said. “Who would have thought that D.C. was easier to work with than Virginia?”

    When asked whether Leonsis or anyone on his team lobbied Virginia lawmakers directly, he responded by saying, “No, we’re not politicians.”

    Ongoing contact with Bowser

    Even though Leonsis had been public about his desire to move the Capitals and Wizards out of D.C., dialogue between him and Mayor Muriel Bowser never soured or stopped throughout the process, he said.

    Leonsis said they even ran into each other by chance at a conference in mid-January.

    “I was like, ‘Oh, hey, how’s it going?’” Leonsis said. “We both hugged each other, and she sent me a text the next day and said ‘It was great to see you, let’s keep the lines of communications open.’”

    “I said ‘awesome,’ and it took off from there,” Leonsis said. “It was a natural thing.”

    Bowser and Leonsis signed a letter of intent Wednesday, reaching an agreement on $515 million in public funding for an arena project.

    The deal keeps the teams in the District through 2050.

    “She was doing all of the right things and was recruiting us, which is why I made this pivot,” Leonsis said. “I thought that’s what Virginia was going to do with us.”

    The new D.C. project is set to include 200,000 square feet of expansion of the Capital One Arena complex into the nearby Gallery Place space, the creation of an entertainment district in the surrounding Chinatown neighborhood, and safety and transportation upgrades.

    D.C. Council members will take up the deal next week and are expected to pass it.

    “We have the opportunity to build a little bit higher on our building, and we have some work to do on some of the streets around the building, so we’re working with architects and designers,” Leonsis said, adding he wants the area to look “new and exciting and modern.”

    Upgrades will include better premium dining, new technology, suites and plumbing and “back-of-house improvements.”

    “It’ll be a very comprehensive, multiyear change,” Leonsis said. “We have to have a growth mindset to grow our revenues because we’re in competition against other teams, other cities, and we have to look and act like we’re a big market.”

    The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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    © 2024 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.

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    Nick Iannelli

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  • DC attorney general says Capitals and Wizards can’t leave DC until 2047. Monumental says they can – WTOP News

    DC attorney general says Capitals and Wizards can’t leave DC until 2047. Monumental says they can – WTOP News

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    In a letter to Monumental Sports & Entertainment, D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb cited legislation from July 2007 in which D.C. provided $50 million through municipal bonds for arena renovations with the caveat that the lease would be extended.

    There has been another development in the ongoing saga regarding the possible relocation of the Washington Capitals and Wizards teams’ arena from D.C. to Alexandria, Virginia. According to a letter from the D.C. Office of the Attorney General, the teams are contractually obligated to remain in the District until 2047.

    In the letter, dated Tuesday, to Monumental Sports & Entertainment’s general counsel Abby Blomstrom, D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb cited legislation from July 2007 in which D.C. provided $50 million through municipal bonds for arena renovations with the caveat that the lease would be extended an additional 20 years beyond its initial 2027 time frame.

    Monumental has stated previously it can legally end its lease at Capital One Arena early, citing amendments to the original agreement.

    Schwalb countered this, stating the legislation doesn’t include any amendments that would allow the company to “extinguish or revoke the lease extensions upon prepayment of the outstanding bond debt.”

    He further posited that Monumental had already broken additional contractual obligations by negotiating with Virginia.

    The attorney general said the agreement includes terms that state if the company ever intended to relocate the Capitals and Wizards, Monumental was required to: notify D.C. of its intent; negotiate exclusively with D.C. for six months; refrain from negotiating with any third parties during that six-month period; if it intended to enter a new agreement with a third party following the six-month negotiation period, it would need to provide D.C. with written notice and the terms of the agreement; and allow D.C. 90 days to make a competing offer.

    The letter does state that D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s $500 million offer to renovate Capital One Arena is still on the table.

    More Monumental News

    Bowser’s office told WTOP it has no comment on the D.C. attorney general’s letter at this time. However, in an op-ed piece in The Washington Post last month, the mayor said the city would enforce the terms of the lease if necessary.

    Schwalb’s letter echoed this sentiment.

    “The District very much prefers not to pursue any potential claims against MSE,” Schwalb wrote in the letter. “It remains committed to maintaining and growing its partnership with MSE and to keeping the Wizards and Capitals at the Arena until the end of the existing lease term in 2047, if not beyond. It is in that spirit that the District urges MSE to reengage with District officials around a mutually beneficial arrangement that advances the long term interests of both the District and MSE.”

    In response to the letter, a Monumental spokesperson told WTOP, “We fundamentally disagree with the Attorney General’s opinions, which are contradicted by the DC General Counsel as recently as 2019 when the city ratified the Ground Lease,” referring to an amendment made to the lease.

    This is just the latest snag Monumental has faced as the company’s $2 billion plan for a new arena in Alexandria has stalled in the Virginia legislature. Democratic Sen. L. Louise Lucas, chair of the Finance and Appropriations Committee, excluded funding for the arena in the state’s budget earlier this month.

    “Why are we discussing an arena at Potomac Yard with the same organization that is breaking their agreement and commitments to Washington DC?” Lucas wrote on social media. “Does anyone believe they wouldn’t do exactly the same thing to us?”

    Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin and Ted Leonsis, owner of the Capitals and Wizards, announced in December a handshake deal to build a new arena and move the teams to the Potomac Yard neighborhood of Alexandria.

    The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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    © 2024 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.

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    Jenna Romaine

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